Member postings for Oompa Lumpa

Hi John and thank you for your interest. In the end I just disconnected the whole control box from the Mill and sent it down to Chester, they should have it this morning.

I figured it was simpler and cheaper for me to do that rather than jumping in the car and driving down. I spoke with one of the chaps there first and we discussed the problem - yes I had power to the box, no the guard wasn't open and so on and as could be expected they were rammed first day back because of customers over the Christmas period and people not yet back at work.

Thing is, if someone is breathing down my neck whilst I am trying to find a fault, I don't like it so putting myself in their place I figured I am much better off sending them the unit and giving them a couple of days to look at it in peace and quiet (I hope).

I will give them a ring late Monday afternoon.

graham.

That drill is identical to mine but mine is branded Nu-Tool.

I have owned it for exactly twenty years now and it has always done as asked.

The only issue I have is that the handles to lower the quill have come loose and the threads are shot.( The three round bars with the balls on the end are loose in the capstan)
If anyone has a fix for this I would like to hear it.

graham.

Oh, yes - mine is green!

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 01/01/2014 19:47:37

I have 230 volts at the switch on the Mill. I always check the obvious and try not to assume anything.

The small green neon supply lamp is very, very faint and goes off when I press and hold the green "on" button. All very frustrating.

But as I have indicated, I am just going to take all the electronics down to Chester first thing and take it from there.

graham.

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 01/01/2014 13:11:53

Thanks Gordon but I have decided the best course of action is to take the whole circuit board off to Chester in the morning. The problem is, with an electronic circuit and a 240volt supply in, it is all too easy to fry something without the appropriate diagrams so I will just wait now.

No - definitely something on the circuit board

I have no circuit diagram or test points so I am going to take the whole control box off and take it over to Chester on Thursday - going to check they are open first of course!

I have a FLUKE 73 and I am not afraid to use it!

I cannot believe that one minute it was working fine and then -nothing. Right in the middle of a job too. Always the way

I am going to go back into the workshop - right now - and check the guard switch. Again in the interest of full disclosure there is no good reason for the switch to have failed as it has never moved since I commissioned the machine. I removed all the guards before I even plugged it in so it has never moved from the active position.

I will check as much as possible without dismantling anything other than just taking a cover or two off. And yes, I have checked ALL the fuses.

thanks, graham.

I would love to know where the reset switch is. And no Jason, guard is not open

graham.

If nothing else, I am departing 2013 the same way I came into it last year, with a vexing problem.

So, today I spent a couple of hours in the workshop fabricating some nice solid brackets for one of my DRO setups. Nothing special, a couple of blocks of Aluminium 38x38x16mm Just cleaned them up, milled to size and as I was milling a 5mm pocket in them I turned the Mill back on and nothing - Nada.

The no volt switch will not latch and the little green indicator light does not come on when I turn the mains plug on.

The Mill is a Chester Century and in the interest of full disclosure the Mill is 18 months old, and never used until I set it up six or eight weeks ago. It has maybe ten hours on it, probably much less.

I have had only good service from Chester and would imagine they will be of help on this occasion but as no fuse has blown and no magic smoke escaped I am a bit perplexed. The motor was barely warm to the touch.

All suggestions gratefully received.

graham.

"Whist you and many of us here may know about it, many won't and you've now given scrotes another valuable tool in their armoury they may not have thought about ............ Well Done!"

I can assure you, with some level of authority, the scrotes have their own forum, they won't be looking on here for "tips" to further their "careers". Nor will they be looking for who has the best workshop and where. No, there are far simpler ways to find out who has the biggest collection of tools/cars/motorbikes etc. In their locality.

For instance, who on here has given their real address when buying from "large High Street Tool Retailer?"

Not in a million years would I.

graham.

Very droll John, very droll!

It's the cheap Chinese ones, I learned to buy the better quality ones long since

"The vehicle-collecting community is far ahead of the model community in implementing security measures, and it is well worth looking into their practices."

Because they have quite a bit of experience, sadly. I would listen to the advice others on the forum who have experience of this. I can assure you it is not a pleasant experience. I have lost thousands of pounds to theft and in my experience you cannot stop them, slow them down, make the target unattractive or disguise the spoils but you can't stop the determined thief.

Sadly and not something you want to hear but I will say, from experience, they will be back. You need to look at at the issue from the scrote's point of view and if I was looking to break into the shed with the large hasp and bar on the door I would nip around the back with a crowbar and start peeling the planking off . Look at the issue from the perspective of: " I want to take this shed down quickly and reduce it to a pile of rubble so I can put a new one up - where would I start?" type angle.

Window? Brick springs to mind.
Asbestos roof? Another brick.
Nothing whatsoever stopping you from storing Razor Wire (my personal favourite) directly under the roof out of harms way and up a height so nobody could get hurt? now is there?

I distinctly remember giving advice in another thread on here about how to layer plywood with roofing felt and fencing mesh to create an easily built lightweight outer skin that stops both chainsaw and Stihl saw.

Not letting anyone around and into your place is also good advice, you know, like how you keep the missus out keep others out!

I have three vary large unruly dogs and enjoy a local reputation of being a complete nutter.

Well, not so much what I did today as more "what I learned". Learning is good, right?

I learned to keep my mouth shut and not gawp whilst milling because those flying bits of very hot material coming off the flycutter, well they will go anywhere!

Owwwwww!

Thank you for that Neil. I have just recently aquired a small lathe with a badly damaged bed but everything at the head end intact so I am looking to turn it into something useful

graham.

I thought perhaps my next comments should be in a new, seperate thread but I will let you guys decide:

Is there any good reason you could not take a variable speed lathe, cut most of the bed off it and use the crosslide, saddle and compound slide to manouvre the position of the cutter - which you could mount in an adjustable toolholder - and mount a grinding wheel to the spindle instead of a chuck?

Would this work as a tool and cutter grinder?

graham.

Posted by dcosta on 27/12/2013 19:40:26:

Hello Graham, good afternoon.

Do you mean something like this from ArcEuroTrade **here**?

MT2/B16 Rolling Tailstock Arbor (M10)

Hope this is useful.
Dias Costa

Dias, terrific, thank you. Exactly something like that!.

If I cannot get exactly the right JT6 taper is there a way of making it fit?

Sorry for the dumb questions but I am right out of my comfort zone now

graham.

For better or worse I have one of the "cheap ones" then. Which, from the instructions furnished by the contributors above, looks like it is a terrific leap forward for me. Much better than just sticking the tap in the chuck on the drill press!

It does indeed have a tapping for a bar so that is good but what I really need is a revolving centre between the JT6 taper of the chuck I have and an MT2 taper. I am going to explore the various avenues but if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.

Graham.

I would ask for a bit of help here. I bought this by accident (don't ask, long story) and I am perplexed as to what it is and how to use it. It is some sort of tapping chuck - it says M4-M12 on it.

How do you use it? I realise I need to get a JT6 to Morse Taper adapter:

John, with respect, having been self employed as both a wholesale supplier and a retailer for more years than I care to remember I don't think I am missing the point.

I just think that this - for me - is not a value for money package. I would certainly encourage somebody to "go for it" as competition is a terrific thing for the consumer but it is not something I could do right now as I am quite busy thankfully. It is certainly something that is an opportunity though.

The model engineering community is often thought of as a bit of a "target audience" but look at the size of the attendance to the shows, these people could easily be customers. And God knows I think we could all use a drill sharpener that a) works and b) is affordable.

graham.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention. Never a truer word said and my father once said to me, when all I had was a 1/4" router and really needed a spindle moulder, "Mend and Make do". This event changed my thinking and I always try to look at what I can do with what I have, not what I think I want.

Saved me a good deal of money over the years and certainly contributed to me looking for creative solutions rather than buying my way out of a problem.

This chap clearly "thinks outside of the box" and good on him.

graham.